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The 70th Week of Daniel.

By L.R. Shelton.

Message #9.

We have come to our final message on Daniel, 9,24 thru 27, THE GREATEST PROPHECY EVER FULFILLED. In our previous message we began to look at verse, 27 which sets before us the last week, the 70th week, of the seventy weeks which were determined upon the nation of Israel, the Jews, their temple and the city of Jerusalem. We have shown that the person "He" refers to the Messiah of verse, 26, and that in the last week of this prophecy He would "confirm the covenant with many for one week," and in the midst of the week, or after 3 one half years of His earthly ministry, He would be cut off for His people.

Now we desire to look at the rest of verse, 27 and show that the Messiah, the Christ of God, would by the sacrifice of Himself "CAUSE THE SACRIFICE AND THE OBLATION TO CEASE." That is, He would make an end to all the Old Testament sacrifices. Dear friend, no one will dispute that! When Christ suffered and died on the cross, thus offering "one sacrifice for sins forever," He, then and there, caused the sacrifices and oblations of the law to cease as a divine appointment.

In Hebrews 8,9 & 10, the Holy Spirit clearly sets before us in great detail, and with great emphasis, the setting aside of the Old Covenant, with all that related to it, the worldly sanctuary, the priesthood, the ordinances of divine service, and particularly those many sacrifices (by which a remembrance of sins was made every year); and He puts before us also the confirming of the New Covenant, with its heavenly sanctuary, its spiritual priesthood, its sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving—all based upon the atonement of Christ. The great subject of these chapters in Hebrews, as also the prophecy of the seventy weeks, is THE CROSS.

Dear friend, no where else in Scripture will you find a more complete fulfillment of this part of this blessed prophecy, "He will cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease," than here in Hebrews, 8,9 & 10. In chap. 8 we are told that "the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man" is now in heaven and no longer is needed upon earth (verse, 2). In verse, 1 we are told that our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, ministers in heaven for us where He sits "on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." In verse, 4, it is declared that if Christ were on earth, He should not be a priest, for He was from the tribe of Judah, and not Levi, according to Hebrews 7,11,14. Therefore, the earthly priesthood is done away with forever, for there is no need of any more sacrifices, for Christ, "by his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews, 9,12).

This also establishes the fact that there could never be a rebuilt temple and the offering of animal sacrifices again which would be pleasing to God. Nor will our Lord Jesus sit upon an earthly throne at Jerusalem in a so called 1000thruyear kingdom, for if He were again to come back to earth to set up an earthly kingdom, He could not be an high priest. This could not be, for he is "made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec" (Hebrews, 6,20). So, I will let you decide if we are to believe God's Word or man's word.

Let us go further. In Hebrews, 8,6 thru 13, we find it plainly written that the first covenant of works made with the Jewish nation under the Mosaic economy was set aside and the New Covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant, was established with the true Israel of God, the spiritual seed of Abraham in Christ (see Galatians, 3,16,28 thru 29). In verse, 13, we read, "In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now, that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." And it did vanish away, for our Lord by His one sacrifice for sin "caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease."

As we go into Hebrews, 9, we find the setting forth of the ordinances of the first covenant, the ministry of the high priest in the earthly sanctuary or tabernacle, pitched in the wilderness; and when we get to verse 8 thru 9, we find these words, "The Holy Spirit thus signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present." What this shows us is this, God had, under the Old Testament types and shadows, preached the gospel to the Jewish nation, but only until the coming of Christ, the Messiah, from whence He would "cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease."

If you will move on to verse 11 thru 17, you will find Christ being set forth as the Mediator of the New Testament, the New Covenant, and showing us that the sacrifices and oblations have ceased because the new has come in. Listen to God's Word in verse 11 thru 12, "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Oh, how precious this is to my soul, that I have not been redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, or by the blood of bulls and goats, or by the sacrifices which can never take away sin, but with the precious blood of Christ, the precious Lamb of God, slain for His people.

There is much more which could be shown from chap. 9 of Hebrews as to this precious prophecy of Daniel, 9,27 having been fulfilled, that is, that our Lord by His death would "cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease." But let us move on to Hebrews 10 which shows in more graphic detail this most gracious truth.

I want you to follow now, for to me, these Scriptures are the greatest proof that the Old Testament sacrifices and oblations have ceased and that never again will animal sacrifices be accepted by God, not even as a memorial in a so called 1000thruyear earthly kingdom of Christ upon earth. For, you see, this chapter gives the key to that teaching today which declares that in a so called 1000 year rule of Christ upon this earth the Old Testament animal sacrifices will be once again offered and that this will be pleasing to God.

In verse, 1, we are told that the law of ordinances was only a shadow of good things that were to come in the one sacrifice of Christ. Verse 2 & 3 tells us that these offerings could not make the worshipper perfect, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin" (verse, 4). Therefore, if we or they were ever to be saved, it had to be by the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ. This is the great truth brought out in verse 5thru10. In these verses, we find some very revealing truths.

Verse 6 says that God took no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. He repeats the same thing for emphasis in verse, 8. Why? "Because it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." We know that before the death of Christ the sacrifices were appointed by God, but only as a type and shadow of the good things that were to come under the New Covenant, brought in by the death and resurrection of Christ.

The second thing noted in these verses is the willingness of our Blessed Lord Jesus to take upon Himself the body prepared by God the Father in which He was to make the one sacrifice for sins forever. Oh, the condescension of our Blessed Lord to take our place of sin and death and to bear the wrath of God due us! Listen to verse, 7, which was Christ, the eternal Son, saying, "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God." This prophecy was given in Psalm 40,6 thru 8. Then, in verse, 9, our Blessed Lord repeats the same words, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God."

Dear friend, I ask the question, "If we reject this word of our Lord in Hebrews, 10,9 as being a fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel, 9,27, that he would "cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease," then where shall we look in the entire Bible for a fulfillment? Shall we take the false view that these words will be fulfilled in a yet future tribulation period by an antichrist who has made a covenant with apostate Jews for the bringing in again of animal sacrifices? This view has no Scriptural proof at all; but here in Hebrews, 10,9 we have all the Scriptural proof we need that our Blessed Lord by the sacrifice of Himself took away the first, to establish the second, and thereby caused the sacrifices and oblations to cease.

We need to look at Hebrews, 10,10 which I believe is one of the greatest verses in the Bible—for it tells us that what all the millions of animal sacrifices of the Old Testament could not do, the one great sacrifice of Christ has done. And what is that? Listen to it and rejoice! "We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Praise the Lord for such redemption; praise the Lord for such a sacrifice, that I, a poor, hell deserving, guilty, condemned sinner could stand before God justified and sanctified forever in the righteousness and blood of Christ. This rejoices my soul and brings forth praise to Him forever and ever.

Therefore we conclude that the modern interpretation which takes Christ and the cross out of the last verse of Daniel 9, where it reaches its climax, and puts antichrist and imaginary doings into it, does violence to the Scripture and serious wrong to the people of God.

There remains yet one phrase in Daniel, 9,27 for us to look at before we close this series of messages on THE GREATEST PROPHECY EVER FULFILLED, and it is the expression, "FOR THE OVERSPREADING OF ABOMINATIONS HE SHALL MAKE IT DESO LATE, EVEN UNTIL THE CONSUMMATION AND THAT DETERMINED SHALL BE POURED UPON THE DESOLATE.' Here we find, as already brought out in these messages, the SEVERITY of God against the Jewish nation, their temple, and the city of Jerusalem, for their rebellion, idolatry, unbelief and the crowning sin of them all, the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory. Yes, the abomination of desolation came upon them to the full in A.D. 70. This is expressed in Luke 21,22, "These be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." As Luke 21,24 tells us, those who were not killed in this desolation of Jerusalem by Titus, the Roman prince, and his Roman armies, were "led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The Word of God is very clear that the times of the Gentiles will be till the coming of our Lord in His glorious second coming (Romans, 11,25; Acts 3,20 thru 21; 1st Corinthians, 15,23 thru 26).

To me, dear friend, this has been THE GREATEST PROPHECY EVER FULFILLED because it has for its center CHRIST AND HIS CROSS, and magnifies the sovereign grace of God and His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord. It shows forth the six links of the golden chain of His sovereignty in His eternal purpose, His eternal foreknowledge, His eternal predestination, His eternal effectual calling, His eternal justification and His eternal glorification as shown in Romans, 8,28 thru 30.

Also, it calls for our praise and adoration when we behold our Triune God in all His glory as He is set before us in His glorious attributes of love, grace, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, patience, longsuffering, holiness, immutability, power, sovereignty, and wrath. Let us hear the apostle Paul as he sums it all up for us in Romans, 11,33 thru 36. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen."